NEW YORK, Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories
rose more than forecast last week while distillates fell much less than
expected, showed weekly government data on Friday which analysts said
reflected lingering weak demand for refined fuels in the world's largest
energy consumer.

"You couldn't ask for a more bearish report. It speaks to the
continuing lack of demand in the U.S. market," said Brad Samples of Summit
Energy in Louisville, Kentucky.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said commercial crude oil
stocks rose 2.4 million barrels to 331.4 million barrels in the week to
Feb. 5, above analysts' expectations for a build of 1.5 million barrels.

The inventory numbers largely supported trade group data from the
American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday which showed national crude oil and
motor fuel stocks rising much more than expected last week and distillates
off by less than analysts had projected.

Stockpiles of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, were
down 300,000 barrels at 156.2 million barrels, according to the EIA, far
less than forecasts for a 1.9 million barrel fall.

"I think that the demand numbers are slightly improving, but I don't
think (that) changes the picture that you have anemic fuel demand levels
and until that changes, the fundamentals that we have remain bearish," said
Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

U.S. distillate demand over the past 4 weeks came in at 3.73 million
barrels per day, down a whopping 8.0 percent from a year ago. Total U.S.
oil products demand over the last four weeks fell 0.8 percent year on year
to 18.91 million bpd.

Heating oil stocks were up 1.5 million barrels at 43.5 million barrels,
added the EIA report, which was delayed from its usual Wednesday release
after a massive snowstorm closed federal offices in Washington, DC.

"Total (petroleum) product demand, at just below 19 million barrels a
day, is 2 million barrels a day below the five-year average level for this
season," said Samples of Summit Energy. "Demand has stabilized, just at
very low levels."

On NYMEX, U.S. crude prices traded down $1.73 to $73.55 a barrel after
the report was released. [O/N]

However, crude futures were already pressured by a stronger dollar and
the Chinese central bank's move to raise commercial banks' reserve
requirements, raising concerns the move may curb economic growth.

Crude imports were off 84,000 bpd, EIA added.

Crude runs, or demand for crude oil at U.S. refineries, rose by 129,000
bpd to 13.59 million bpd as refinery utilization added 1.4 percentage
points to 79.1 percent of capacity, versus expectations for a 0.2
percentage point rise.

"It was a pretty big surprise across the board. There was a big jump on
refinery rates too," noted Jason Schenker, President of Prestige Economics
in Austin, Texas.

"Looking at the dollar strength in conjunction with these kind of
prices bearish inventory numbers could push crude lower," he added.

On Tuesday, trade group API reported that U.S. crude oil inventories
jumped by 7.2 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks climbed 1.6
million barrels and distillates dropped 1.5 million barrels. [API/S]
(Additional reporting by Josh Schneyer, Rebekah Kebede, Janet McGurty,
Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by John Picinich)

Trending On Reuters

REUTERS EXCLUSIVE

India's main public health programmes, aimed at millions of rural poor, have been in disarray for months because the government changed the way that over $1.3 billion in funds were distributed, according to data and letters seen by Reuters. Full Article | Graphic: India's health funding